Born on March 28, 1888, lady Tsen Mei is a Chinese American actress and singer from the early 20th century whose birthplace is ambiguous. While some sources state her birthplace as Canton or Guangzhou, China, and later moved to Philadelphia and graduated from Columbia law school, others say she was originally born in Philadelphia according to her public records (Miller). The confusion is due to her fabricated identity that tried to emphasize and promote her Chinese ancestry but actually, she is described as “multiracial” and identified as white in the 1910 census. Her birth father, Shu Chong Moy, was Chinese-born, and her birth mother, Jessica Whitehurst, was 3/4 white and 1/4 black. At age four, she was adopted by a member of his father’s clan, Jin Fuey Moy, who was a U.S. government agent and physician but later was accused of crimes such as narcotics and human trafficking. Her foster mother, Hatita Dolbow Moy, was a white woman who raised her, and being born and raised in the U.S. benefited her excellent English (Spitzzeri).
Lady Tsen Mei debuted as a vaudeville singer whose impeccable English pronunciation and sweet tone surprised and was highly appreciated by many American critics –– “ her general poise, carriage and graceful gesturing the next with her cultured voice insuring her success” (Moon, 155). She toured in England, Australia, and China from 1916 to 1919. When vaudeville declined, lady Tsen Mei left for films like many actresses. She then became “The Screen’s First and Only Chinese Star” to publicize her first film For the Freedom of the East (1918), which was a silent melodrama produced by Betzwood Film Company that was founded in 1918 in Philadelphia Betzwood estate and was the former Lubin Manufacturing Company (Miller). She then starred and produced Lotus Blossom (1921), which was one of her representative works that played in theaters of the U.S. and later in Shanghai in 1923. After one more film called The Letter (1929), an early talking picture, she was seen back in vaudeville. Later on, she retired from performing and ran a booking agency with her husband in Norfolk, Virginia.
Apart from her stage name Lady Tsen Mei and birth name Josephine Augusta Moy, she is also known as Chung Moy, Lady Sen Mei, and Josephine Kramer after she was married to Archie Kramer who was the husband of her second marriage and the father of her daughter (Moon, 155). She passed away in Norfolk, Virginia in July 1985 at age 97.
As the holder of many firsts for a female performer with color, lady Tsen Mei had so many breakthroughs that were milestones in the history of Chinese-Americans. According to Dr. Ramona Curry, lady Tsen Mei achieved a remarkable life in acting, even though her film career did not last long. In a book that Dr. Curry works on to review the timeline of Chinese-American films, Lady Tsen Mei takes on a crucial role as a pioneering woman of color in the early movie industry.
Relaxing on the set of Lotus Blossom from left to right are Ross Fisher, Lady Tsen Mei, and Frank J. Grandon. From The Motion Picture Studio Directory Trade Annual of 1921
The entire comment about the Lotus Blossom float in the Los Angeles Times: “Chinese players produced a “Lotus Blossom” float with many oriental men and maids in native costume. The production was by the Wah Ming Motion Picture Company.” Los Angeles Times, 15 July 1921, Los Angeles Central Public Library.
Portrait of Lady Tsen Mei, from the sheet music cover for J. W. Walsh and George De Carme’s “In the Heart of the Rose” (1912).
Courtesy of the Sam DeVincent Collection of Illustrated American Sheet Music, Archives Center, National Museum of American History, Behring Center, Smithsonian Institution.
References
“Lotus Blossom: The First Chinese-American Film and Made in Boyle Heights, Part Two.” Boyle Heights History Blog, 25 February 2016, http://boyleheightshistoryblog.blogspot.com/2016/02/lotus-blossom-first- chinese-american_25.html. Accessed 23 August 2021.
Miller, Dave. “Lady Tsen Mei 1917.” flickr, 2016,https://www.flickr.com/photos/puzzlemaster/24388596856. Accessed 13 August 2021.
Moon, Krystyn R. "6. The Rise of Chinese and Chinese American Vaudevillians, 1900s–1920s". Yellowface, Ithaca, NY: Rutgers University Press, 2004, pp. 143-162.
Spitzzeri, Paul R. “Dr. Ramona Curry on Lady Tsen Mei, the First Chinese-American Film Star.” The Homestead Blog, 25 March 2018, https://homesteadmuseum.blog/2018/03/25/dr-ramona-curry-on-lady-tsen-mai-the-first-chinese-american-film-star/. Accessed 23 August 2021.
Further Resources
Fahlstedt, Kim K. "8. Trajectories and Concluding Remarks." Chinatown Film
Culture. Rutgers University Press, 2020. 195-202.
Fishbein, Leslie. "Women on the Fringe: a Film Series." Film & History: An
Interdisciplinary Journal of Film and Television Studies 8.3 (1978): 33-41.
Gruenewald, Tim, and George Chun Han Wang. "East-west flows: Cinematic
currents between China and the United States." Asian Cinema 29.1 (2018):
“Josephine Kramer, America’s First Chinese Actress,” Virginian-Pilot, 1 Aug. 1985, D4.
Moon, Krystyn R. "Lee Tung Foo and the Making of a Chinese American
Vaudevillian, 1900s-1920s." Journal of Asian American Studies 8.1 (2005)
23-48.
Oehling, Richard A. "Hollywood and the Image of the Oriental, 1910-1950-Part II."
Film & History: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Film and Television Studies 8.3
(1978): 41-48. Women on the Fringe: A Film Series
Citation box
Hu, Yulong. “Lady Tsen Mei: Research Update.” In Jane Gaines, Radha Vatsal, and Monica Dall’Asta, eds. Women Film Pioneers Project. New York, NY: Columbia University Libraries, 2013. <PDF LINK>
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